


When the World Says Give Up, Hope Says Try One More Time

by MYuzuki



Series: A Motley Little Crew of Dysfunction [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Bat Family, Batfamily Feels, Bruce Wayne is a Good Dad, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rated T for Jason's swearing, Reconciliation, XD, as always I suck at tags so, more like the first stepping stone on a long and messy path to reconciliation but still, well...he's trying to be better at least
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 15:05:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12135078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: It's been two weeks since the Red Hood survived an assassination attempt. Two weeks since his siblings had somehow wormed their way back into his life, with their stubborn attitudes and good intentions.Two weeks since Batman had gone out of his way to deal with the person responsible for putting a hit out on Jason's life.Since it's been two weeks with no contact between him and his very estranged father, Jason feels like it's safe to assume that this is just something else that they'll never talk about.But then they cross paths on patrol one night, and Jason has to saysomething.





	When the World Says Give Up, Hope Says Try One More Time

Jason hasn't heard from Bruce in two weeks.

He's not sure why it's bothering him as much as it is; it should be a cause for relief, not irritation. And it's not like they were actually in touch before anyway; the closest they came to a real conversation on most nights was throwing sharp pointy objects at each other from adjacent rooftops.

Honestly, having no contact with the Batman should make the Red Hood happy; hell, he should be c _elebrating_.

But two weeks ago, someone had sent an assassin after Jason...and  _Bruce_  had been the one to eliminate the threat, after Jason's siblings had descended upon him like some sort of bizarre concerned flock of lunatics to treat his injuries and make sure he was okay.

Jason still hasn't managed to get rid of his brothers and sisters. Oh, they haven't been in his loft this entire time, of course, but they...pop up more often now than they had before. He runs into Nightwing at least thee times a week during their nightly patrols now and Dick never misses a chance to invite him out for lunch or to a baseball game or something else stupidly brotherly, and he encounters Tim almost as often. He even crosses paths with Damian more often, although somehow the latest Robin never seems to have Batman with him during this encounters (Jason's not sure if that's Bruce trying to keep his distance and show Jason that he trusts him with Damian, or if Damian's just slipping his leash again; honestly it's about a fifty-fifty chance either way.)

Barbara is currently expressing her affection for him by upgrading the security system in his loft, since it's now the safe house he spends the most time at; she'd said something along the lines of "your current system has too many blind spots" and "are you trying to die again?!" and Jason knows better than to get into an argument with Babs, so he's decided to just let her do her thing.

Cassandra gives him minor heart attacks every singe time she appears out of the shadows without warning, but her smiles are warm and her eyes can always see through him (can see the  _real_  him, buried underneath the layers of hurt and anger and grief that he wraps around himself like armor) and she's always willing to just spend time with him, even on his not-so-good days, so he always welcomes her presence.

And Stephanie, being who she is (Jason's about two hundred percent certain that if anyone ever names a tropical storm Hurricane Stephanie, it will be someone who knows his sister), has more or less inserted herself into Jason's life with little regard for his opinion on the matter; just this morning he'd found her sitting in his loft demanding he make her breakfast, for fuck's sake. (He'd spent five minutes totally at a loss for words, another five minutes cursing at her, and then another fifteen minutes throwing together a slapdash breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast.)

Jason is surprised, on a pretty frequent basis, how _easy_  it is to just spend time with his siblings. Some days are harder than others, because they all have their own issues (and he has more than most, courtesy of a very fucked up life), but it's...nice. They're a family, and Jason can't help but enjoy that, even if he's still not sure if it'll last.

He doesn't know what to think about Bruce, though. If someone had asked him two weeks ago, Jason would have said that Bruce hated him, was disappointed in him, and wished he'd never been resurrected.

But Batman going after Gordon Lennox, the man who'd put out a kill order on the Red Hood...Jason doesn't know what to do with that. Especially since Bruce hadn't _needed_  to go after Lennox, not really; Tim had just sent Bruce a message asking for help in tracking down some of Lennox's offshore bank accounts. All their father had been asked to do was collect the information and forward it back to them; there hadn't been any need for Bruce to go digging, hadn't been any reason for him to  _care_  that Lennox had hired an assassin to kill the Red Hood.

Except...apparently Bruce  _had_  cared that someone had tried to kill Jason (again), and had decided to do something about it.

Yeah, Jason  _really_  doesn't know how to feel about that.

In a perfect world, he would call up Bruce and ask to talk to him about it. Unfortunately, they don't live in that perfect world; instead, they live in a world where Jason's a Crime Alley orphan who'd been beaten to death and blown up by the Joker and resurrected via an insanity-inducing Lazarus Pit and Bruce is an emotionally constipated asshole who can't properly express himself worth a damn.

It makes something inside of Jason's chest twinge and ache, because they'd hadn't always been this way; things had been  _good_  between them once upon a time. Back before Jason had been broken apart mentally and physically and haphazardly put back together again with just anger and regret fueling him, back before Bruce had closed off his heart and locked himself away from anything that could distract from his mission.

Back when Jason had just been a punk who'd tried to steal the tires off the Batmobile, a kid who'd desperately needed a father and who'd somehow found that in Bruce, who had taken him to his first baseball game and taught him how to drive and skipped patrol because Jason was sick.

Jason misses those days, more than he's willing to admit to anyone. He misses waking up in the Manor and going downstairs to eat one of Alfred's incredible breakfast spreads. He misses coming home from school with his latest report card and having Bruce tousle his hair and give him proud smiles and declare that they'll celebrate with his favorite foods for dinner.

He misses  _having a dad_ , and it hurts even more because he knows it's partially his own fault that things are so broken now between them.

(Okay, maybe mostly his fault, given all the shit he'd pulled after his return to Gotham, but he's trying to be better, now that the influence of the Lazarus Pit has mostly faded. Redemption is probably out of the question for someone like him, especially since there's still a lingering knot of resentment and anger inside of him that might never go away, but dammit, he's  _trying_.)

Anyway, he hasn't heard from Bruce since the whole mess with Lennox, and it seems like that trend is likely to continue on indefinitely.

Right up until he crosses paths with Batman on a rooftop during one of his nightly patrols, that is.

It is undeniably awkward and tense as they both just stand there and stare at each other, and Jason vaguely wonders if it would be over-dramatic for him to take a running leap off the edge of the building to get away.

He sternly reminds himself that he's the Red fucking Hood, thank you very much, and that he doesn't have to run away from  _any_ body.

Certainly not an overly judgmental father who probably couldn't properly express his emotions even if his life depending on it.

(Jason can't help but wonder if maybe he should just give up on reconciling with Bruce. The tense and suspicion-laden working relationship they have now isn't ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but it's significantly better than where they'd been, and Jason's got his brothers and sisters now...and maybe that's enough.

He doesn't  _want_  to give up on Bruce though, even if Bruce has already given up on him.

Because part of him, deep down, is still just a kid that wants his dad.)

He stays on the rooftop where they'd both landed and considers his options.

"Thanks for...taking care of Lennox," is what he finally says, because it's something that needs to be said.

Bruce stiffens for a moment, shoulders and jaw going tense and rigid before he visibly forces himself to relax a little. "You're welcome," he replies, sounding a bit wary, as if he expects the thanks offered to be a trap somehow.

(He's  _such_  a paranoid bastard these days; it would almost be funny to Jason, if it wasn't also simultaneously frustrating and saddening.)

Jason can't think of anything else to say that won't come off as harsh or sarcastic (and for once he doesn't want to leave with extra bitterness between them) so he gives a curt nod and turns to go.

"Wait," Batman says suddenly, his voice more hesitant than Jason's heard it in months (hell, in  _years_ , maybe). "Are you...were you injured? When Lennox's assassin attacked you."

Jason halts mid-step and glances over at Bruce uncertainly. "What, Dickiebird didn't tell you?"

"No, he didn't," Batman answers, his tone shifting into something dry and amused. "Said it wasn't any of my business and that if I really wanted to know I should stop trying to needle answers out of him and just ask you."

"Why do I feel like that's the G-rated verison of what he said?" Jason asks rhetorically, shaking his head in amusement. It's...oddly touching, to know that Dick had had his back with Bruce, though, even just for something stupid like reporting his injuries. "I got stabbed in the thigh and shot in the shoulder," he tells Bruce in a more serious tone, seeing no reason  _not_  to tell him, especially now that it was all irrelevant and in the past. "The wounds themselves weren't the worst I've ever had-" that distinction would pretty much always belong to the injuries he'd sustained on the hellish day he'd died "-but the blood loss complicated things a bit. Dick and the others...took care of me, though," he adds, and is grateful for the way his helmet's voice filter cancels out the wobble in his voice.

(There are still some days where he just can't believe that his siblings had come for him, had come to  _help_  him.

He'd been hurt and had needed help, and they'd  _come_. Without even needing to be asked, they'd just...showed up.

It was something he'd all but given up on, until then.)

Bruce swallows once, nods, and doesn't say anything else.

(Jason wants to be annoyed at the cowl that disguises Bruce's features and feelings so well, but honestly all he manages to muster up is a sort of resigned weariness that he'll never be able to understand his father's feelings again, not now that they've got this great chasm of grief and anger between them.)

Jason huffs out a short sigh and turns to go once more, and then hesitates.

 _I don't want to give up on him_ , he reminds himself.  _On us. On what we had before it all went wrong._

(He wonders if maybe Bruce doesn't want to give up on it, either. If that's why Batman is still standing on a rooftop with the Red Hood when there are probably half a dozen places he's more urgently needed.)

"I'm glad you recovered from your injuries," Batman says now, his voice rough. "If you'd... _again_...I wouldn't...I don't think I could..." He falters and shakes his head, looking pained.

Jason finds that he's suddenly got a bit of a lump in his throat, and has to swallow pretty damn hard to make it go away. "Relax, old man," he says, forcing his voice to come out lighthearted and easy-going. "It'll take more than a few lucky shots from an assassin to do me in. I'm like a cockroach; nothing short of the Apocalypse is going to punch my ticket."

Bruce gives an odd choked sort of chuckle, and Jason feels an odd flare of warmth in his chest.

Bruce had laughed. A stupid little chuckle at one of Jason's stupid little jokes, but even so... _Batman had laughed._

(Maybe there's still some hope for them after all.

Jason figures it can't hurt to try, at least.)

"I was about to do another pass through the Bowery, if you want to join me," he offers, hesitant but sincere. "I could use the company."

Batman stares at him with such a dumbfounded look on his face that Jason can't help but burst out laughing, the kind of full-throated laugh that rarely passes his lips these days.

"The look on your face," he says, snickering, one hand clutching his side as he struggles to get his amusement under control.

"Easy there, Hood," Batman says sternly, but his voice has a thread of mirth in it, too. "You'll pull a muscle if you keep that up."

Jason just shakes his head and laughs some more before finally subsiding into the occasional chuckle as he pulls out his grapple and aims it. "Let's get going, old man," he says, grinning underneath his helmet. "I ain't gonna wait all night for you."

"Think you can keep up?" Batman retorts, firing off his own grapple and zooming away before Jason can do much more than squawk indignantly and flip him off.

(There's still so much farther for them to go on this path towards reconciliation, and Jason knows it's going to be messy and painful and uncomfortable...

...but finally, he's starting to think that maybe, just  _maybe_ , they actually have a chance.

It's a chance he's willing to take.)


End file.
